


The Neighbour Family

by Sagittarukius



Category: JO1 (Japan Band)
Genre: Aniki line as adults, Family, Friendship, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Outoto line as kids, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:27:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24234298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sagittarukius/pseuds/Sagittarukius
Summary: They're just a family of two, a father and son, who are happy being with each other. They don't need other people, until the neighbour family arrives.
Relationships: Kawanishi Takumi/Kawashiri Ren, Kono Junki/Sato Keigo, Shiroiwa Ruki & Tsurubo Shion, Shiroiwa Ruki/Yonashiro Sho
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59





	1. Morning Antics

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :))

"DAD I HAVE SCHOOL! WHY DON'T YOU WAKE ME UP!!"

A little boy is looking angry while stomping his feet cutely in front of the kitchen where his father is having a fight with the fried-eggs on the pan. Receiving no response as the father can't take his attention away from the eggs, the boy gets annoyed even more.

"Sorry, baby boy. Go take a bath for now. Dad will go after these guys are done," When there’s no answer, the 30-year-old finally turns his head to see his son still standing there with a pout. It makes him chuckles.

"Come one, Shion-san~ Count to ten and this old man will be there for your service!" He winks which thankfully succeed to make his son huffs and walks away to the bathroom.

After he manages to get everything done for the breakfast, he speed-walks to the bathroom to check on his son who just finishes washing his hair.

"Wait, Shion. You still have shampoo on your hair," He quickly rolls up his sleeves and pants before taking over the showerhead, ruffling away the remaining shampoo on the 5-year-old's hair.

For a moment, giggling and water sounds are the only things that can be heard along with the father's complain over his son's mischievous behaviour splashing water everywhere.

"No, no. Stop. We're done!" Shion finally stops after hearing his father's serious voice, "hands up!"

The boy bits his lips, feeling bad for making his father's dress shirt and pants all wet. He doesn't want to get scolded so he does as said and raises his hands, only to get wrapped fully with his fluffy towel in his father’s arms.

"Shionman, you ready to fly?" Shion giggles when his body is being picked up like a Superman, "We're going in three..two..ONE!"

The father and son duo laugh as they 'fly' around the house and lands safely in Shion's room. Then they get dressed for the day and go for a quick breakfast.

Not thirty minutes later, they are already on the way to Shion's kindergarten.

The duo sing happily at the kids song being played at the audio player in the car when the phone rings and a familiar name shows up.

"Yo!"

_"Don't 'yo' me, Mr. It's five minutes before your son's class and where the heck are you??"_

"Wow my friend is so nice checking up on me~"

_"Shut up, Ruki!"_

"Ck."

_"Listen! My wife's been bugging me to find out where my bestfriend is. Actually this bestfriend of mine always late sending his son to school and now, HAH to think I thought there’ll be any difference this time!!"_

"There is! We're here. And it’s still... five minutes before class! Ok I can see you and your stupid hair."

_"For your information, five minutes before class isn’t something to be proud about."_

The call ends just as the car is parked nicely at the school yard. Shion is all excited already jumping on his seat waiting for his dad to free him from the seatbelt.

"Come on, Buddy!"

They walk, well Shion is running, towards a couple standing in front of the entrance. The shorter one with pink hair smiles widely seeing cute Shion running while the taller with white hair throws Ruki a dirty look as he waves at them.

"Good morning, Uncle Ren, Kumi-sensei!!" Shion greets them happily, earning a warm smile from the pink hair guy. Upon seeing the toddler in Takumi's arms, Shion's eyes twinkle, "Good morning, Mame-chan!"

"Morning, Little guy!" Ren ruffles the boy's hair, "I see you're ready for the day?"

"Yes! I love school!" Shion nods eagerly, "Where's Sukai?"

"He's inside with Syoya and the others."

"Really?" at the mention of his other friend's name, he turns to his dad, "Syoya's here too, Dad!" 

Ruki nods. It's cute seeing how hyper his son is when his friends are around. Then he crouches down so he is at the eye-level with the boy.

"Go in. Be a good boy and listen to Kumi-sensei. Be nice with the others too. Ok?" Shion smiles. He nods and does a salute.

“Yes, Ruki-sama!“

Ruki does the same gesture before his son turns back and walk like a soldier to his class. Somehow he feels emotional watching his son’s back disappears behind the door that it makes him pout unconsciously.

“Enough with your drama, Old man. Let’s go or we’re gonna be late.”

Ruki slaps Ren’s hand on his head as he stands up, throwing his key at the latter who catches it nicely, “You drive.”

“Hurry up, please. I don’t want to see the two of you make scene in front of my school,” Takumi waves them away before kissing his husband as a goodbye. Ruki sneers at the couple.

“Bye, Mame-chan~ Daddy will see you later. So be nice to your Papa,” Ren kisses his youngest son’s chubby cheeks earning a cute giggle from the toddler.

“We’re going. Please take care of my son, Takumi!” Ruki waves as he lets himself get dragged away by the white hair.

Takumi only looks at them while shaking his head.

\---

Now as the two gentlemen are in Ruki's car on their way to the office...

"Why don't you go with Keigo? He's literally there before me, right?" 

"After dropping off Syoya, he's going to send Junki to the restaurant first. And it's not like i want to witness their PDA, not again." Ren shudders at the memory in his head, "Let's say it's safer to go with you."

Ruki scoffs. 

It is always like this. Him sending Shion to school where Takumi, Ren's husband, teaches and of course Ren will be there. So they can go to the office together in Ruki's car.

Ren can always go with Keigo and Junki, their other friends as they also drop off their son, Syoya, at the kindergarten before go to work. But he rather not. Once is enough traumatic experience for him as the two can't seem to get their hands off each other. Ren had to scream before they remembered there was a guest in their car.

So Ren concluded that Junkeigo couple are not safe. While a single and lonely Ruki is a yes.

"I'll stop hitching on your car when you finally get a boyfriend or husband or wife, whatever," Ren smirks. He knows Ruki hates this topic so much.

"Why should I find someone? Why don't YOU find a car or something?" Ruki getting annoyed.

"Well sorry i'm not as rich as you, brat. We only have one car that I have to let Takumi uses since he has to take care of our two sons and my friends’ sons too, apparently," Ren says sarcastically as he pulls up at the parking lot, “Now I’m thinking about setting the price for childcare." 

Ruki gets outside and waits for Ren to properly locking the car before they walk off together with Ren throwing his arm around Ruki’s shoulder.

“But I’ll be happy if you pay us with a new car, maybe? Or give it as a present? You know Sukai’s birthday is next week.”

Ruki rolls his eyes and shrugs Ren’s arm away, "Dude, I'm not as rich as you think. I'm also an ordinary employee here."

Ren laughs which earns a side look from the latter as they get in the elevator, "Or maybe if you stop spilling my everyday life with my son to my father then he'll take me on a promotion and I can open a loan for you."

"Don't blame me. Why do you think I get hired at my bestfriends' family company for?" 

"Does he pay you to be a stalker or what?"

"Stalking on you. Only you, Babe~" Ren whispers into Ruki’s ear and makes a kissy face just as the elevator door open to a female employee looking dumbfounded at them. They immediately throw a nervous cough as Ren waves at the girl.

“Good morning, Yabuki-san.”

The young lady bows awkwardly as a reply before turning to Ruki, informing him that the CEO is looking for him for a ‘morning report’ which Ruki automatically rolls his eyes at. After the girl walks away, Ren gently pats his shoulder.

“Dude, it’s your turn. Go fill him with your ‘morning report’. I won’t say anything. Good luck!” With that he waltz away to his cubicle not even giving Ruki another glance as he knows the man is throwing a death glare at his back.


	2. The Chaoskids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a normal day of the fathers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language so forgive me for any mistakes :((

“Kumi-sensei!”

“Yes, Shion?”

“I can take a bath by myself!” The 5-year-old hits his chest proudly as Takumi is busy stripping the kids off their clothes. It’s already time for them to take a bath.

“Oh really?” Takumi smiles at the adorable boy before ushering them one by one to the bathroom. Luckily, it’s quite big for them all.

“Yep!” Shion nods, “I did it this morning too!”

“Eyy liar!” Syoya teases as he splashes water on Shion, making the taller kid annoyed.

“I’m not! Ask my dad when he gets here!” He does the same causing a water fight between the two.

“Why?” Sukai asks when he finally gets water splashed on his face, “I never bath alone because when papa is busy, I take a bath with daddy.”

Shion shakes his head, “Dad was making breakfast. He was in a war with the pan!”

Takumi chuckles hearing the kids’ conversation. He can imagine Ruki having a fight with whatever he had on his stove as his son watching. The guy can barely cook, maybe frying something or cooking rice is the easiest he can do.

“So who’s the winner, Shion?” Takumi tries to get involved in the talk too as he carefully putting down Mame into the warm water. The toddler shivering for a second before relaxing into the warmth.

“Of course it’s dad! He won because he didn’t burn the eggs!”

Takumi’s laugh makes Shion smiles smugly then process to show off how he take a bath like he did this morning. But him, Syoya, and Sukai still end up in water fight just like how they usually are.

After the bath, they gather in front of the TV for an afternoon snack. Talking in soft whispers as they don’t want to disturb Mame-chan’s napping time.

It is like a normal thing for Takumi. After done with his teaching in the kindergarten for the day, he goes home not only with his sons Sukai and Mame, but also Syoya and Shion. Their parents are at work so they only pick them up later at Renkumi’s house. They are all good friends anyway, so Takumi doesn’t mind as it feels like taking care of his own sons.

Ren, Ruki, Keigo and Junki are all same age. They met when they were in university and became bestfriends even through these years.

Ren, Ruki and Keigo now work at the same company which is owned by Ruki’s family. While Junki, who is also Keigo’s husband, taking care of his family’s restaurant in the city.

Then there is Takumi, the youngest of them as he is pretty much ‘the new comer’ in the squad for only meeting them after he dated Ren. Until now, all of them feels like family than just bestfriends. Especially when their kids are same age.

Today too, when they hear the sound of a car pulling up in the garage, the kids get excited and quickly run to take a peek at the window.

“It’s my dad!” Syoya shouts happily as he jumps up and down. When the door opens to reveal a tired looking Keigo, the boy immediately throws his body at the adult.

“My baby~” Keigo carries Syoya in his arms, a huge smile replacing his tired face.

“Daaddy~” Syoya snuggles his face on his father’s shoulder. His short arms tightly wrapped around the older’s neck.

“Uncle Keigo, where’s my dad?” Shion asks when he sees no sign of his father’s car.

“And my dad?” Sukai follows.

“Oh, hello Shion, hello Sukai,” Keigo greets them as he puts down Syoya, “Your dads will be here soon. They had to stop at the gas station on the way.”

Right after Keigo finishes his sentence, a honking sound greets them and the two boys cheerfully stand behind the door. Both Keigo and Takumi laugh at them before Keigo makes himself at home on the sofa. Takumi gives him a glass of water when the door opens and noisy reunion happens.

“MY BOY!”

“DAD!”

Ruki and Shion share an exaggerated hug while spinning around. Just a normal sight for the others.

While the two are in their own world, Ren greets his oldest son and carries him to the living room to get a welcome kiss from Takumi.

“Eww get a room guys. There are kids around!” Keigo makes a face which replied by a snort from Ren.

“Do you think you have any right to say that, Sir? Remember what happen when I was in your car with yo-”

“That was one time!”

“One time, my ass. I bet you’re even more gross when no one’s around.”

“Honey, language!”

The white hair finally shut up at his husband’s stern voice. Takumi is always the strict one in this household, especially when involving the kids.

“Sorry, Babe...”

Takumi sighs and leaves for the kitchen to get more water when he sees Ruki walking towards them.

“Actually..” the brown hair man says as he plops down next to the blonde, “I’m the only one has the right to ban all of you of any PDA. You hurts my eyes!”

“Or hurt your pride,” Keigo continues.

“You’re just jealous,” Ren nods.

“Tsk. Why should I be jealous of you bast- custard!” Ruki almost stops at Takumi’s glare on him. He quickly takes the glass of water before it gets thrown at him instead. Then he turns to the younger with a smug smile, “I didn’t swear. I said custard.”

\---

“Syoya said we’ll get a new friend tomorrow.” Shion tells his dad that night when both of them lying down together on Shion’s bed.

“Wow, new friend is cool.”

“Yep! It’s Syoya’s cousin. He’s from...from...” Shion tries hard to remember what Syoya told them this morning, “Kawakawa?”

Ruki chuckles at his son’s cuteness. He pinches the chubby cheeks before positioning his arm under Shion’s head for more comfortable position.

“It’s Okinawa, Shion.” He corrects while patting Shion’s back softly.

Keigo told them before at Ren’s house that Junki went home with his cousin who’s coming from Okinawa this morning. The said cousin will start living in Tokyo to help out at Junki’s restaurant which is also their family restaurant.

“Right! Okinawa!!” Shion hits his forehead on his father’s chest lightly before looking up at the older, “But where is it, Dad? Is it far?”

“Hmm. It’s faaar away,” Ruki says dramatically while engulfing Shion in a hug. He playfully locks Shion’s movement with his legs, making the 5-year-old squirming in his hold while laughing out loud.

“Sleep, My son. You have school tomorrow.”

Only when he feels the nod that he loosen the hug, patting his back and stroking his hair gently while humming any kids songs he knows. After making sure his son is asleep, he carefully puts Shion’s head on the pillow. He fixes his blanket and give a kiss on his forehead before out of the door.

What a normal day for the single father. After sending his son to bed, he is back with just himself. Ruki lies down on the sofa, facing the ceiling and stays like that in the dark as the only source of light coming from the kitchen.

How quiet. It makes him feel lonely.

Ruki sighs. He plays with the TV remote in his hand before putting it back on the coffee table. Turning on the TV can wake Shion, so it’s a no.

He walks to the kitchen craving for some cola. Sadly, the only ones sitting in the fridge are Shion’s boxes of milk.

Ruki glances at the digital clock where the red 10:45 PM staring back to let him know how late it already is. But he still debating whether he should go for a quick run to the nearest convenient store for his cola or not.

In the end there he is, tip-toeing towards the front door in his black hoodie. One hand holding his wallet while his other hand snatching his shoes before carefully closing the door. Of course he checked on Shion to make sure the kid is sleeping so he can leave him for awhile without drama.

He doesn’t even put on his shoes properly and just walks to the elevator when he sees someone walking up the stairs towards his floor.

He lives in a three storey building. Having it newly renovated just last year, there are still not many people on the top floor as Ruki and Shion are the only one living there.

Because he is sure no one living on the third floor except him and Shion, the sight of someone like this sure is confusing to him. Especially if that someone coming in the late at night dressed in black jacket, black hat, and a mask.

They make eye-contact and the man bows a bit.

Only when the stranger walks pass him that Ruki remembers he leaves Shion alone in their apartment. Ruki waits, silently watching over the guy while deciding whether to confront him or not.

That is when he sees the guy looks around suspiciously, checking every unit numbers, Ruki decides to step in.

“Excuse me?”

The man stops. He turns around as Ruki comes closer.

“What are you doing here this late?” The man seems taken a back by Ruki’s question so he adds, “I’m sorry if I sound rude. But as far as I know, I’m the only one living in this floor.”

The man nods and quickly taking off his hat and mask, revealing a face with a friendly smile.

“I’m sorry if I look creepy. I’m only here to check on my new apartment because tomorrow I’m moving to unit 302,” he states, gentle voice full of guilt, “I arrived in Tokyo this morning and because of things, now is the only time I get to check the apartment.”

Ruki nods, only half believing the guy but somehow feeling bad for suspecting the seemingly nice person.

“I- I understand. Sorry for being rude. It’s just rare to see someone walking around this floor.”

“Ah I see. I’m sorry,” He bows once more, “but are you going somewhere? This late?”

And suddenly Ruki remembers why he is out here in the first place. 

“I need something from the convenient store,” he laughs awkwardly. They stands there for a while that Ruki thinks maybe he should leave this guy alone for now. So they share another awkward bow before going separate ways.

But Ruki can’t let his mind off the guy even when he arrives at the store. Sure that man looks kind but it doesn’t guarantee that he must be a good person, right? The anxiety filling up Ruki's mind tells him to quickly pay his ten bottles of cola and sprints back to his apartment. And so he does.

He doesn’t bother to use the elevator and runs up the stairs. The more he goes, the more he hears crying sound from the upper floor that makes him feels even more anxious.

When he finally arrives though, the sight that greets him is enough to make him feel enrage. The suspicious man is right in front of his apartment which door is wide opened, a crying Shion in his arms.

“SHION!” Ruki immediately takes Shion from the guy, hugging the crying kid while staring dead into the other man's eyes, “what the hell do you think you’re doing to my son?!”

The man doesn’t know what to do. He looks like he wants to explain himself but Ruki doesn’t care. He quickly brings Shion back to their apartment and slams the door shut.

That night Ruki reflects a lot, on how sorry he is to his son and how bad he is as a father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for anyone reading this story!  
> I don't think I'll have a fixed schedule on when to update but I'll try to do it as often as I can!


	3. Meet The New Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And finally they meet...

"What's with him?" Keigo nudges Ren, his chin pointing at Ruki who keeps on sighing on his side.

It is lunch break and as usual, the three of them hangout at the rooftop with their sandwiches and drinks (coffee for Keigo, cola for Ruki, juice for Ren). The only difference is the usual chatterbox Ruki who suddenly becomes quiet. Had the other two didn’t drag him to the rooftop, he might mope on his desk all day.

Ren sips his juice before answering, "His prince is angry. They have a fight."

Keigo frowns at Ren's vague explanation, "By the prince you mean Shion?" When he sees Ren nods, he turns to Ruki, "Why? What's wrong?"

"Actually," Ren starts again, "that idiot went out in the middle of the night, leaving his son alone in the apartment just for a bottle of cola."

Now Keigo shakes his head and turns back to the brown-haired man, "Seriously, Ruki? How?"

Ruki sighs again for the nth time. This time actually makes an effort to look at his friends, "I know I was wrong. But that time I've made sure everything was safe! The door was locked and Shion was asleep."

"But later he woke up and found out you're not in the apartment?" Ruki nods at Keigo's question.

"Still, I don't think it's safe to leave our kids alone whatever the situation is."

Ren is right, Ruki knows it. That’s why Shion’s crying image from last night keeps getting back to haunt him. Shion was crying hard and only stopped after Ruki cuddled him to sleep. But when Ruki apologized to him in the morning, he got cold shoulder. Shion refused to talk to him, not even when they took a bath or in the car earlier. The boy even run directly to hug Takumi without looking back at his father at school like usual. Ruki just wants to cry.

Of course it is not the first time Shion getting angry at his dad. As a normal 5-year-old, he threw tantrums when things doesn’t go as he please. There were times when he ignored his dad all day for refusing to buy him some toys or cakes, or whenever Ruki reminded him of their dentist appointment. But Ruki has immune to any of that. While this time is different. This is all Ruki’s fault anyway.

“I thought it’ll be just a quick run to the store and back,” Ruki mumbles, “never thought something like that would happen.”

Both Keigo and Ren can hear his mumble and frown at each other.

“What’s the ‘something like that’ you talked about?”

“Is there something you haven’t told me?”

And so Ruki tells them everything. From him going out after Shion fell asleep, him encountering a suspicious guy, and how he discovered Shion in the suspicious guy’s arms while bawling his eyes out.

“Dude, why telling me just now?!” Ren shouts, “that’s fucking scary!”

Keigo nods, totally agree with Ren’s words, “So who’s the guy?”

“I don’t know. I only remember he said he’ll move in today,” Ruki sighs, “next door apartment, 302.”

“Imagine having a creep as your neighbour,” Ren shivers at the thought.

“But what if he only wanted to help?” The blonde looks at his friends, “I mean maybe he really was there to check his apartment. But then he heard Shion’s crying voice and decided to check if something’s wrong.”

Ruki blinks trying to get what Keigo said and somehow it does make sense.

"Anyway don’t worry too much, Bud. That's how kids are. Their biggest fear is when their parents leave them alone. Just try to apologize to him again later," Ren encourages him.

"If only you know how Syoya gets angry. That brat always make a fuss at everything and only Junki can tame him down. Whenever he's angry, I'm the one at fault. But he's my son and he's cute so I can't get angry at him," Keigo smiles while patting Ruki’s shoulder. 

Ruki chuckles. He nods and smiles thankfully to the other two, “Thanks guys.”

“Nice! Come on, don’t be sad! We’ll be having party tonight anyway!”

At Keigo’s words, Ruki’s smile fades.

“Party?” He turns to the blonde, “what party?”

“Eh? Didn’t I tell you we’re all going to your place after work?” Ren asks with Keigo nodding beside him.

“What??” Ruki is seriously shocked at the sudden news, “what for?”

“Junki mentioned something about celebration. But he didn’t say anything more.”

Ren nods, “and Takumi only told me to go directly to your house after work because he and the kids will be there already.”

Ruki massages his temple. Kids and party.

“Why celebration party in my house? And you guys didn’t even tell me beforehand?!”

Ren and Keigo look at each other before grinning at Ruki. Well, they understand the single father’s frustation though.

“Hey, your place is literally our meeting place though!” Keigo slaps Ruki’s shoulder playfully.

“Hmm. It is since the time you told us your apartment passcode!” Ren chimes in.

Ruki scoffs. All he can do now is silently praying that nothing will go wrong.

\---

In the end the three of them are going home together, in Ruki’s car.

The thing is, Ren and Ruki was about to drive away when Keigo came running and dropped himself at the backseat. Turns out he doesn’t bring his car today because Junki needs it for whatever preparation he is planning.

Actually Keigo and Junki own two cars. But they rarely use the other one because it’s for ‘family occasion only’, while the one they use everyday is for ‘daily use’.

Ren called it 'rich people’s struggle’.

So they drive to Ruki’s place without forgetting to stop by the nearest convenience store to buy some juice for the kids.

Of course there are some complaints when Ren realizes Keigo doesn’t buy anything for them.

“You didn’t buy my soda?”

“Go buy yourself!” the blonde retorts, “Junki only told me to buy for the kids.”

“Why? Did Junki buy something for us already?” Ren whines. Keigo shrugs making whiny Ren even more defeated while Ruki snorts watching the two.

“At least I have my own stock at home~” he sings, ignoring Ren's pleading to share some with him.

Ruki’s mind thinks back to ten bottles of cola he bought last night. He still haven’t touched any and they are sitting perfectly in his fridge.

Or so he thinks.

Because when they arrive at his apartment, the first thing he sees is Takumi neatly placing six bottles of cola on the table.

“M-my cola..?”

Ruki freezes in his spot near the door. He doesn’t even move when Keigo walks pass him while laughing mockingly. Ren comes after, crying in happiness seeing the colas on the table.

“Thanks, Man! You’re the best!”

Then he runs just like that leaving Ruki still in his spot until someone’s voice disturbs him.

“Uhm..excuse me?”

Ruki finally accepts his cola’s fate and turns around to meet the owner of the voice. But the face greeting him makes him even frozen in his spot.

The latter looks just as surprise as he stands there awkwardly with a pot of hot soup in his hands.

“Ah, Sho-kun. I’ve prepare the table. You can put the pot here.”

Takumi’s voice breaks the awkward staring contest and the man finally walks inside. This time, Ruki follows him, still getting confused at how Takumi knows _him_.

“Sho-kun?” Keigo greets the new guy, seems like they know each other too, “you’re here too! But where’s Junki?”

“Junki is cooking in my apartment,” the guy answers after carefully putting the pot. He also smiles and nods at Ren, “actually I move in today to the apartment next door, Keigo-kun. Junki said he wants to hold a welcoming party for me.”

“Apartment next door? Aaah..302!” Keigo nods until the realization hits him. He shares a look with Ren who seems to think the same before eyeing Ruki. Ruki who feels their eyes on him, glares back at them making Ren snorts as he fails to hold his laugh.

“Hey! Hello, losers!” Thankfully, Junki’s loudness saves the atmosphere as the chef strolls in with plates of carbonara and fried rice in his hands.

“Welcome home, Babe~” He gives a peck on Keigo’s cheeks and safely puts the foods on the table.

“Babe, you didn’t tell me Sho-kun is moving here?” Keigo asks his husband, arm protectively wrapped around Junki’s waist.

“It’s a surprise!” the shorter replies, “who knows that my lovely cousin becomes neighbour with our lonely friend here!” Junki slaps Ruki’s back, making the latter groans but he ignores it anyway.

“Everyone, let me introduce you to my cousin, Yonashiro Sho!”

The new guy, Sho, smiles and bows at everyone.

“And Sho, meet my friends. You already know Takumi, then this is Ren. And the last one, our resident single father who is also your neighbour, Shiroiwa Ruki!”

“Nice to meet you, Ren-san, Ruki-san.”

“Uh-uh!” Junki shakes his head, “they’re same age as me so you should just call them by their name.”

While his friends are having their nice introduction with the new person, Ruki’s mind going back to the scene from last night. So the strange guy he dissed last night was actually Junki’s cousin? Does that mean he’s not....dangerous?

“Papa....” a soft voice interrupts the adult’s chit-chat and a boy walks out of Shion’s room. The boy looks timid and surprised upon seeing more unknown people in the room. But he keeps walking towards Sho who quickly holds the boy in his arms.

“Shosei, say hi to the uncles,” Sho says in a soft fatherly voice.

The sight of the man holding a little boy in his arms somehow reminds Ruki again to the incident last night. And he can’t help but realize that Sho does have a good and warm vibe.

“I’m Yonashiro Shosei,” the boy speaks in super soft voice which makes Ruki unconsciously smiles.

“Hello~ I’m Kawashiri Ren. Call me Uncle Ren, ok?” the boy nods at Ren’s friendly introduction, “I’m Sukai and Mame-chan’s father.”

Shosei smiles shyly before darting his eyes to Ruki. Now both him and his father are looking at Ruki, even Ren is waiting for his introduction.

Ruki gulps at the sudden attention and takes a step closer, “Hi, call me Uncle Ruki. I’m Shion’s father.”

At Ruki’s smile, Shosei quickly hides his face on his father’s neck making the adult laughs at his cuteness.

“Sorry, Shosei is really shy to meet new people,” Sho says apologetically which makes both Ren and Ruki nod their head in understanding. Ren even pats the little boy’s back before excusing himself to help his husband in the kitchen.

That leaves Ruki and Sho, and Shosei.

Ruki is ready to run away too. Maybe to his room? Or pretend to help the others?

“Daddy is home?” Shion’s voice surprises Ruki as the boy peeks his head from his room. At the sight of his dad in the living room, he runs and hugs the father’s legs.

“Shion?” Ruki looks down at his son. He touches the boy’s hair which makes the boy looks up.

“Dad..” he pouts, then holds up his arms and Ruki immediately carries him.

“My son..” Ruki holds Shion tightly in his arms. Shion wraps his arms around his dad’s neck while whispering something to his ear.

“Dad, I’m sorry.”

“No, no. Daddy is the one who is sorry,” Ruki kisses the chubby cheeks, “Dad won’t leave you alone again. Never. Promise!”

Ruki holds out his pinky finger and Shion happily does the same.

“Promise?”

“Promise!”

Both giggle at each other until Shion ruins the mood with his excited shout.

“Oh, Dad! He’s Uncle Sho! He was here with me last night, right?!”

Ruki mentally curses as all eyes are now on them, including the said guy and they make eye contact again. And the awkwardness is back.


	4. Weekend Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a regular visit to Ruki's parent's house..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> H-hello..  
> Sorry for the long update. I'm suffering of writer's block :((  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter~

_06.00 AM_

The sounds of alarm echoes around the quiet apartment waking up the owner as he reach over the phone to turn off the loud rings. He then stretches his body carefully not to wake up a five year old boy beside him.

After making sure that his little angel is still sleeping peacefully, he walks out of the room to start the day. Washing his face and brewing his morning coffee are the first things to do.

It is not something new for Yonashiro Sho to wake up this early. Ever since he was little, his parents always woke him up early in the morning either to get ready for school or to help them up in the weekend. Thus, he keeps this _healthy_ habit until now.

“Papa...”

A small voice pulls Sho’s attention away from the coffee in his hand and a smile naturally finds its way on the man’s face as he sees his son walking out of their room still half asleep, small hands rubbing his sleepy eyes while slowly approaching the father in the kitchen.

“Morning, angel~” Sho crouches down and invites the boy into his arms.

“Morning, Papa~” Shosei greets his father back and kisses the older’s cheeks.

Sho then carries the boy and sits him up on the dining chair right in front of a yellow cup he prepared for his son, “one cup of milk for Papa’s best boy.”

Shosei giggles before taking his cup, “thank you, Shosei’s Papa!”

Sho takes his own coffee and sits across his son. That way, the father and son enjoy their morning with Shosei talking animatedly about the new friends he met yesterday.

Speaking about yesterday, last night’s party comes back to Sho’s memory. How his cousin, Junki, randomly intruded someone’s place to hold a welcoming party for him. And he happened to have a bad first impression for that someone as they met the day before in an unpleasant incident.

Luckily, Sho and his new neighbour, Ruki, got along quite well last night. Being the only single fathers between the married couples, Ruki seemed to be glad that he finally found a ‘friend’.

_“I think you two will get along well, Sho. Ruki is a brat but a lonely brat.” Junki said in the middle of their random talk but quickly hid behind Keigo when Ruki threw a potato chip at him._

_“Nice to know another single father I can relate to,” Sho smiled at Ruki, hoping the latter wouldn’t find it offensive to be refered that way. But his worry disappeared when he saw the younger held up his cola at him, signaling him to do the same and they made a friendly cheer._

Maybe that cheer can be a start of a new friendship. Right?

Sho is still in his own thought when his son’s voice gets his attention back to the boy.

“Papa, will we go to the park today?”

\---

Ruki sighs in relief when he remembers that today is Saturday. That means no work and he can sleep all day to make up his lack of sleep last night.

The party finished around midnight, when the kids were already asleep and the adults finally had nothing more to gossip about. But they stayed until two in the morning to clean up Ruki’s apartment because there was no way Ruki would let them go leaving the mess for himself. He was so ready to flush Keigo’s and Ren’s car keys down the toilet if they refused to help out.

His new neighbour was also there. He even apologized to Ruki because they had destroyed Ruki’s apartment for his welcoming party. But Ruki had nothing against the older because the main culprit was Junki after all.

From then on, Ruki concluded that Yonashiro Sho is not a bad person. He felt like they just needed to warm up more and they could be good neighbours for each other.

Back to the present, the brown haired man is almost back to his slumber when he hears the door to his room creaks opened and he feels a pair of short arms snake around his torso. He turns around carefully and finds his son already on his side. The kid’s eyes are closed, ready to snuggle more to his dad.

“Dad, still sleepy..”

Ruki pats the boy’s back gently trying to get him to sleep while his own eyes are getting heavier too.

Just as they almost back to the dreamland, his phone rings. Ruki groans but quickly reaches out to find his phone and the name on the screen somehow manages to wake him up.

_Mom_.

He sighs before pressing the answer button. Suddenly remembering that weekend is not a completely free day for him.

“Mom?”

_“Shiroiwa Ruki, today is Saturday. Are you waking up just now?”_

Ruki nods, knowing his mom can’t see him but he still nods anyway.

“I went to sleep late last night,” he yawns in the middle of talking, “the kids were here until late.”

_“Just the kids or the kids as in Takumi and the others too?”_

“Everyone.”

_“Oh! I miss them! When will they come visit again?”_

“Ask them yourself,” Ruki can imagine his mom pouts, “anyway, Mom. Can I go tomorrow? We’re so tired even Shion is still asleep.”

_“And leaving your old mother alone? What kind of son are you?!”_

Ruki rolls his eyes. His mom can be a drama queen sometimes, “Where’s dad?”

_“He went golfing with his friends!”_ Ruki can hear his mom fake crying while saying this, _“I’m lonely and I miss my grandson too!”_

“Alright. Let us sleep two more hours,” Ruki glances at the clock on the side table, “we’ll go around ten.”

_“Promise?”_

“Promise.”

_“Ok. See you later, Son. I love you!”_

Ruki throws his phone to the side and tries to go back to sleep. But in the end, the thirty year old just ends up staying in bed, scrolling morning news on his phone while once in a while stroking Shion’s hair when the kid moves in his sleep.

When it is finally nine o’clock, Ruki forces himself to get up, take a bath and make simple toast with jam for breakfast. He also prepares Shion’s clothes before waking up the boy.

At ten, the pair are ready to go. Shion who was whining nonstop when Ruki woke him up is now getting excited that he goes all jumpy outside while waiting for his dad.

“Come on, Dad! Come on!”

Ruki only laughs at his hyper son and quickly locks their apartment when he sees his new neighbour and his son walking out from the elevator. Both clad in simple t-shirt and training pants.

“Good morning,” Ruki greets them.

“Good morning, Ruki-kun, Shion,” Sho smiles at the duo, “I see you’re going somewhere?”

“Just a regular weekend visit to my parents,” Ruki smiles awkwardly, “how about you?”

“Oh we’re just back from our morning exercise,” Sho replies before looking at his son, “right, Shosei?”

The boy nods shyly, “we went to the park.”

“Park? We went there last week!” Shion interrupts, “Dad, let’s go there again!”

“Yes. Let’s exercise together!” Shosei replies enthusiastically. But Shion shakes his head.

“I don’t want to exercise. I want to play.”

“Eh? But we need to exercise. Papa said it’s good for our body!”

“I don’t like exercising. My dad said it’s tiring!”

Sho laughs at the kids’ banter while Ruki nearly facepalms himself.

“It’s ok Shion. We can go play to the park together next time. Shosei would love to play with you too,” Sho replies kindly.

“Yes!” Shion holds his father’s hand and sways it happily, “we can eat the tempura and ice cream again right, dad?”

Ruki nods, making the boy shouts in joy. He then looks at Sho who is watching them with a smile.

“Don’t you think that it’s amazing? Our family’s mindsets are so different.”

Ruki says sarcastically with straight face but is enough to send Sho into a laugh.

And somehow the awkwardness slowly disappears, replaced by a more friendly atmosphere.

\---

“We’re home!”

Ruki and Shion shout as they walk into the house. A second later, they hear footsteps and his mom shows up, walking down the stairs looking excited.

“Babies!!”

She goes to carry Shion, swinging the giggling five year old in her arms and kisses her son’s cheeks.

“It’s been long!”

“Only two weeks, Mom. You know I had work to do,” Ruki rolls his eyes, “blame Dad for that.”

“Two weeks is long!” She scolds her son, “I miss my grandson so much.”

They then walk to the living room, where a set of _butsudan_ is placed in the corner with a framed photo of a young couple on it.

Ruki lowers himself and sits in front of it. His mom stops behind him, puts Shion down beside Ruki, then kisses both their heads before walking away leaving the two alone.

Ruki lights some incense and make a prayer with Shion follows his dad’s movements silently. After they are done, Ruki strokes Shion’s hair earning the kid’s attention. At the father’s nod, the boy scoots a bit closer.

“Mama, Papa, Shion is here..” the boy says softly then bows his head a bit before moving back to hold Ruki’s hand.

“We’re here,” the older follows, voice as soft as Shion was, “how are you guys? Shion and I are good.”

Before Ruki can continue, he feels a soft pull on his hand and Shion is looking at him, silently asking his permission to leave. Ruki smiles and nods which Shion takes as a cue to find his grandmother, Ruki’s eyes follow the boy’s movement until he disappears in the kitchen.

“He grows up well. Don’t worry,” Ruki looks back at the photo, at the smiling couple, “I’m trying my best too, for everyone.”

Ruki continues to sit there without saying anything. There are many things he wants to share but he can’t let it out so he just sits there silently.

Only when he feels a soft pat on his shoulder that he finally breaks his gaze from the photo and meets those calming eyes of his mom’s.

“Shion said you only ate toast for breakfast?” She asks, “go eat more with your son. He’s waiting in the kitchen.”

Ruki doesn’t say anything. He looks at the photo for the last time before nodding then standing up and walks to the kitchen with his mom.

Just as his mom said, Shion is there waiting with his head on his palms while staring sadly at the feast of foods in front of him. When he sees Ruki entering the kitchen, his face immediately lifts up.

“Dad, let’s eat! I’m hungry!”

Shion’s hyper personality has always become Ruki’s boost of energy. This time too, he instantly laughs and switches back to his ‘father mode’.

“Daddy is hungry too! Dig in, my son! Let’s finish everything!!”

Ruki’s mom shakes her head at their antics. Of course it is getting annoying sometimes when they get noisy and make a mess around the house. But at the same time those are the times she feels the most relief that they are being themselves, both Ruki and Shion, her son and grandson.

Somehow the more she sees them, the more they resemble each other.

_“Indeed, they are father and son,”_ she smiles to herself.

\---

“So what did all of you do until that late last night?” Mrs. Shiroiwa finally has time to investigate her son long after she put Shion on a nap. It is three in the afternoon and the mother and son are in the living room chatting about everything while waiting for the head of the family to come home.

“Doing house warming party for Junki’s cousin,” Ruki replies while munching on the popcorn his mom made for them, “he moves in to our apartment yesterday. We become neighbours.”

“Oh really? Which cousin?” she asks excitedly, “I should’ve known him if he’s the ones from the restaurant.”

“No. He’s from Okinawa. But he comes here to work with Junki at the restaurant.”

“I see...” the woman nods, “I haven’t visit Junki’s restaurant in a while.”

“You don’t even visit your son,” Ruki rolls his eyes.

“Oooh are you jealous, honey?” she pinches Ruki’s cheeks making the man regrets what he said just now, “don’t worry, you’re still my only son and I love you the most~”

Ruki scoffs but makes no move to push his mom away. Only when they hear the sound of a car entering the gate that she stops and moves to peek at the window.

“Your dad is home!”

“Thanks God finally I can go home.”

Mrs. Shiroiwa sends a glare at her son who doesn’t see it because he is busy making himself comfortable lying down on the sofa.

“Honey, I’m home~”

“Welcome home~”

“Welcome, Dad.”

“Daddy...”

All the adults in the room goes silent as Shion walks sleepily down the stairs. Ruki, who was too lazy to move his body to even greet his father, quickly dashes to meet the boy halfway because obviously he can’t even open his eyes properly.

“Shsh..” Ruki takes the boy in his arms and brings him to the sofa. He lies the boy there with his parents watching the scene fondly.

“Ruki, my son, you’ve grown up!” his father says suddenly. The man engulfs his son in a hug and pats his back rather forcefully, earning a groan from the younger man and facepalm from his wife.

“I’m proud of you, Ruki,” Mr. Shiroiwa releases the hug and looks at his son with twinkling in his eyes, “so when will you get married?”

\---

“Buddy, hop on daddy’s back,” Ruki squats down back facing Shion who just wakes up after he slept through their way back from Ruki’s parents’ house.

“Come on, Shion. Careful,” he takes the boy’s small hands and circling them around his neck. When he finally feels the small body clings to his back, he stands up carefully and closes the door with his foot.

The walk to their apartment from the parking lot is quite painful for Ruki. Not because of Shion sleepily clinging to him like a koala because that is obviously something Ruki used to and he can handle very well.

It is because of the packs of foods his mom got for them. Carrying his son already limits his movement so adding handful packs in both his hands are not helping. Ruki needs to use extra effort to even press the elevator button while silently praying they can reach their apartment without trouble.

When they reach the third floor, the elevator door opens to Yonashiro Sho looking surprised seeing Ruki’s stressful face in front of him, Shosei is right beside his father too.

“Ruki-kun, are you ok?” the older asks. He looks at the latter’s appearance up and down and finally understand the struggle, “do you want me to help you?”

“Is it really ok?” when the older nods, Ruki feels like crying in happiness, “then can you please take these two boxes for me?”

Sho quickly takes the things from Ruki’s hands and follows the younger walking back to his apartment with Shosei. They waits until Ruki done with the passcode and follows him inside.

“Please put them in the kitchen, Sho-kun. I’ll be in Shion’s room for a moment,” Sho nods then takes his son to the familiar kitchen he sees just yesterday. He puts the boxes of foods carefully and moves some to the fridge.

“Thank you very much. You saved my life,” Sho turns to the voice and sees Ruki walking towards the kitchen, an exhausted smile on his face as he turns to the only kid in the room, “thank you, baby Shosei.”

Shosei’s shy nods makes his father smiles, “No problem. But you seriously looks like you could pass out anytime. You need some rest, Ruki-kun.”

“I will soon,” Ruki nods, “but are you about to go somewhere?”

“We’re going out for dinner,” Sho answers, “also to buy something for breakfast tomorrow. We forgot to go grocery shopping this morning.”

“You don’t need too!”

Sho looks confused when the younger takes out some box he just put in the fridge. Ruki pulls out a smaller box and gives it to Sho.

“My mother wants me to give this to you.”

“Eh?”

“I told her Junki’s cousin is now our neighbour and she packed those for you,” Ruki smiles, “she also said she wanted to get to know you but please ignore her if she really goes to your restaurant tomorrow.”

Sho laughs at the last sentence and takes the box from Ruki. This gains Shosei’s interest as the kid curiously sniffs it.

“Thank you,” Sho smiles, “I really need to thank her directly if she’s really coming tomorrow.”

“Please no,” Ruki rolls his eyes, “my mom is annoying. There’s a reason she clicked well with Junki, you know.”

Once again Sho laughs at the younger’s remark and for some reasons Ruki laughs together with him. When Ruki stops laughing to yawn, Sho takes that as his cue to leave.

“I guess I’ll get going now. Go take a rest for real, Ruki-kun.” Sho takes both the box and his son’s hand and walks towards the front door with Ruki following behind.

“Of course. Thanks, Sho-kun for helping me earlier.”

“Your welcome and thank you for this too.” He lifts the box in his hand before signaling Ruki to close his door, “so...good night.”

“Hm. Good night.”

Ruki closes the door and walks back inside. He throws his body on the sofa, feeling the tiredness envelops him entirely but there is warm feeling inside as he remembers what happened just now.

Maybe, they really are becoming good neighbours to each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Actually I'm not really sure whether to post this fic or not :((  
> I hope you enjoy it and hopefully I can update regularly hohoho


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